South Korea's box-office sales demonstrated a recovery of about 70 percent of the pre-pandemic levels in the first half of this year, but sales for Korean films reached only about half of the levels, data showed Wednesday.
According to the data released by the Korean Film Council (KOFIC), the overall box-office revenue for the first half of 2023 amounted to 607.8 billion won (US$474.5 million), equivalent to 72.5 percent of the average box-office revenue recorded in the first half of 2017-2019 before the COVID-19 pandemic.
During the same period, the number of theatergoers totaled 58.39 million, which represents 57.8 percent of the average attendance for the first half of 2017-2019.
However, Korean films generated 212.2 billion won in revenue, accounting for just 54 percent of the sales achieved during the same period in 2017-2019. Korean films attracted 21.05 million viewers, only 44 percent of the comparable figures for 2017-2019.
In the first half of this year, homegrown films accounted for 34.9 percent of the total box-office revenue and 36 percent of the total admissions.
The KOFIC explained local films had been underperforming until May, when the action comedy flick "The Roundup: No Way Out" was released, with no Korean film generating over 20 billion won in revenue or attracting 2 million viewers.
"No Way Out," the third installment of a crime action comedy series starring Ma Dong-seok, has since drawn more than 10 million admissions. It became the first movie released in the country this year to surpass the milestone.
In contrast, foreign films earned nearly double the box-office revenue of domestic films, totaling 395.6 billion won in the first half of this year.
This represents a remarkable recovery, reaching 88.7 percent of the average revenue recorded during the same period of 2017-2019.
The number of moviegoers for foreign films also reached 37.34 million, accounting for 70.2 percent of the average audience during the same period in 2017-2019.
The success of Hollywood films like "Avatar: The Way of Water," with a significant share of revenue from specialty theaters, along with animated Japanese films, such as "Suzume" and "The First Slam Dunk" contributed to the surge in foreign film sales, according to the KOFIC.
Notably, Japanese films achieved 131.5 billion won in revenue with 12.68 million admissions, both all-time highs since KOFIC began compiling box-office shares by nationality.
The most successful film in the first half of this year was "The Roundup: No Way Out," which attracted over 10.67 million viewers. It was followed by "Suzume," "The First Slam Dunk," "Avatar: The Way of Water" (3.49 million) and Marvel Studios' "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3."
Source: Yonhap News Agency